Everyone's Getting Straight A's: Fewer High School Grads Enrolling in College

The Alliance for Excellent Education’s newest e-newsletter, “Straight A’s” is online. You can read the full articles from this issue here, or short synopses below. As always, if you would like to receive Straight A’s in your inbox, please email jamos@all4ed.org.

Sixty-six percent of high school graduates from the Class of 2012 were enrolled in colleges or universities in October 2012, a slight decline from the 68.3 percent rate one year earlier for the Class of 2011, according to an April 17 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The college enrollment rate was higher for young women (71.3 percent) than for young men (61.3 percent). College Enrollment Rate Drops for High School Graduates

Although the national unemployment rate ticked down slightly from 7.6 percent in March to 7.5 percent in April, the unemployment rate for individuals aged twenty-five years and older without a high school diploma increased from 11.1 percent to 11.6 percent, according to the May 3 jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment Rate Increases for High School Dropouts Aged Twenty-Five and Older

A large gap persists between how prepared high school teachers believe their graduating students are for college-level course work and what college instructors expect their first-year students to know, according to the 2012 ACT National Curriculum Survey. The report, Policy Implications on Preparing for Higher Standards, finds that while improved standards—such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) or ACT’s College Readiness Standards—are intended to close this gap, states, districts, schools, and teachers need to ensure they are prepared to teach college- and career-ready standards. The report offers policy recommendations to assist states in their preparation. College- and Career-Ready Standards Can Help Close Perception Gaps on Student Preparedness

In a competency-based education system, a student advances from grade-to-grade based on mastery of course content, not on the number of days spent in the classroom. A new policy brief from KnowledgeWorks examines the growing national movement toward a competency-based education and highlights key barriers within the federal accountability and assessment systems that pose a challenge to this work. The brief, An Emerging Federal Role for Competency Education, is the first in a series from KnowledgeWorks to help policymakers define the appropriate role for the federal government supporting competency education in the nation’s K–12 schools. An Emerging Federal Role for Competency Education

Released on January 22, 2013 by the Alliance for Excellent Education, Strengthening High School Teaching and Learning in New Hampshire’s Competency-Based System, profiles two high schools in New Hampshire that moved away from “seat time” toward a competency-based system. The report also examines the changes that were necessary to make competency-based advancement an important part of New Hampshire’s strategy for implementing the Common Core State Standards and ensuring that students graduate ready for college and a career. Additional Resources on Competency-Based Education

On April 30, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) released a series of documents, including assessment blueprints and evidence statement tables, for the English language arts and mathematics assessments set to debut in 2014–15. The documents were created to help educators and the general public better understand the design of the PARCC assessments. Along with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, PARCC is working to create assessments that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Updates from PARCC

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Afternoon Announcements: July 30, 2012

Hello and welcome to today’s Afternoon Announcements! Have you been watching the Olympics? We hope so. In case you’ve missed out on Alliance President Bob Wise’s dispatches from London, you can find them here. Be sure to check them out!

For-profit colleges lead us off today because they’re the subject of two Congressional reports. First, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), concludes his two-year investigation with a damning report of for-profit educational institutions. The New York Times notes that “For Profit Higher Education: The Failure to Safeguard the Federal Investment and Ensure Student Success,” reports, “taxpayers spent $32 billion in the most recent year on companies that operate for-profit colleges, but the majority of students they enroll leave without a degree, half of those within four months.”

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Afternoon Announcements: June 19, 2012

Good afternoon and welcome to your Tuesday edition of the announcements. There’s a lot of news from a variety of sources today, so buckle in and get ready!

Education Week kicks us off today, as they so often do, with the news that the Senate appropriations committee recently passed a bill that would allow states and schools to use federal funds intended for after-school and summer learning programs to be used to lengthen the school day. The House of Representatives has not taken up the proposal yet. Up to $1.15 billion from the 21^st Century Community Learning Centers program would be available for schools to use toward school day lengthening.

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Morning Announcements: September 22, 2011

President Obama is poised to broaden federal influence in local schools by scrapping key elements of No Child Left Behind, the Bush administration’s signature education law, and substituting his own brand of school reform, according to the Washington Post. While unpopular with Republicans in Congress and some in the educational establishment, the move is drawing applause from governors around the country struggling to meet the demands of the nine-year-old law.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced it will fund more charter school-district collaborations, benefiting schools in Boston, Central Falls, R.I., and Sacramento, Calif, among others.The districts still have to formally apply for the Gates funding, but they can win up to $100,000 once they do, according to Education Week.

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Report Round-Up--The July 4th Holiday Edition

Happy Friday! As we close out the week before the Independence Day holiday, here's a quick look at some of the education-related reports that were released this week. If there's a report we missed that you think deserves to be mentioned, feel free to post a link to the report in the comments section.

Not Just Kid Stuff Anymore: the Economic Imperative for More Adults to Complete College, released by the Center for Law and Social Policy. This report says the number of U.S. high school graduates is not projected to increase, regardless of academic improvement, because population demographic trends are pointing to lower numbers of graduates by 2020.

Successful K-12 STEM Education: Identifying Effective Approaches in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, by the National Research Council of the National Academies, seeks to answer the question, "what can schools do to provide all students with access to high-quality education in STEM?" It provides an overview of the landscape of K-12 STEM education by considering different school models, highlighting research on effective STEM education practices, and identifying some conditions that promote and limit school- and student-level success in STEM.

Strained Schools Face Bleak Future: Districts Foresee Budget Cuts, Teacher Layoffs, and a Slowing of Education Reform Efforts, by the Center on Education Policy. This report includes data from a survey of more than 400 school districts and finds that districts are facing a grim financial future and the situation won't get better any time soon.

And, finally, just to get you into that Fourth of July mood (if you're not there already), here's a short highlight video from the 2007 "A Capitol Fourth," PBS's annual coverage of the fantastic fireworks display on the National Mall, including wonderful shots of the Washington Monument, U.S. Capitol, and Lincoln Memorial.

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Morning Announcements: May 20, 2011

In his School of Thought blog in TIME magazine, Andrew Rotherham explains, “Actually, College is Very Much Worth It.”

Education Week blogger Erik Robelen writes about a coalition of school chiefs and their ideas for what a reauthorized ESEA should look like.

The Independent asks “What’s in a graduation rate?”

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Morning Announcements: March 10, 2011

The Washington Post and The New York Times report on the Department of Education’s announcement yesterday that more than three-quarters of the nation's public schools could soon be labeled "failing" under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Inside Higher Ed covers a new report from Excelencia finding, “Between 2005 and 2022, the number of Hispanic public high school graduates in the United States is projected to increase by 88 percent, while the number of white high school graduates is expected to decline by 15 percent. And in 2008, only 19 percent of Hispanics ages 25 years and up had earned a postsecondary degree, compared with 29 percent of black young adults and 39 percent of white ones.”

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Morning Announcements: February 24, 2011

Education Week reports that most of the 17 urban districts that took part in a prominent science exam fell below the national average, with the exception of the school systems in Austin, Texas; Charlotte, N.C.; and Jefferson County, Ky.; where 4th graders scored about the same as their peers across the country. Meanwhile, at the 8th grade level, only students in Austin had an average score that did not fall below the national level; it was not statistically different.

In the Washington Post, President and CEO of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Frank Alvarez writes about Generation First Degree, a project to help more Latino students earn their family’s first college degree.

The Community College Times explains how rural community colleges are getting creative in raising funds.

The Hechinger Report asks can universities keep the minority students they woo?

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Report Round-Up: November 5, 2010

Expanding Career Readiness Through Online Learning from the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE). In this study ACTE officials describe the significance of online courses and how the career and technical education community is supporting the growth of virtual education in the U.S.

A Growing Movement: America's Largest Charter School Communities by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. This study finds that New Orleans, the District of Columbia, Detroit, and Kansas City are the top cities in the nation for charter school penetration.

Common Ground: Education and the Military-Meeting the Needs of Students by the National Association of State Boards of Education. According to this report, partnerships between state education officials and industry and military leaders can increase student achievement and help stem the nation's dropout rate. Note this report is $16 for purchase.

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Morning Announcements: November 2, 2010

The Harvard Review examines how U.S. high schools can help students be prepared to succeed in college: “As Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and the former governor of West Virginia, told the HPR, college preparedness boils down to the Three A’s: academic preparation, attitude, and assets. Wise defines the first as basic reading, writing, researching, and critical thinking skills; the second means appreciating the importance of college; the third means ensuring an adequate college funding plan. While Wise considers all the A’s to be prerequisites for higher education, most public policy has only focused on the first.”

Nearly 40 percent of Arkansas' 1,075 public schools have failed to meet minimum achievement requirements on state exams for at least two years according to the Northwest Arkansas Times.

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